Paul sits in nature.
He does not write a nature poem.
He sees a burger wrapper
rolled by the wind across his field of vision.
He gets up
removes the wrapper from this nature scene
and sits back down on brown pine needles
at the base of a ponderosa.
Paul recognizes he sits in nature
and the burger wrapper sits wadded up
in his left hip pocket
and wonders if that is separation enough?
He recognizes his father
would not think about such things.
His father would enjoy the mountain
and probably would not have picked up
the burger wrapper
figuring some very small animal would not starve
because it found the cheese and ketchup
stuck on the wrapper.
Annoyed Paul gets up and starts down the mountain
out of nature and back to the trailhead.
There might as well be a red line
at the edge of the trailhead parking lot.
One side would be marked nature.
The other side would be labeled not-nature.
Paul recognizes it is an artificial line
that he places on the trailhead parking lot.
It delineates where the feeling of Away enters his body.
Away from Taos New Mexico.
Away from traffic. From mechanical noises.
Away from cultural differences and local politics.
Away from trash littering the street.
Away from everything he needs to get away from.
copyright © 2021 Kenneth P. Gurney
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